Zameene Gungunati Hain - A Report

ZAMEENE GUNGUNATI HAIN 

Date: 30^th March, 2019

Time: 2:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Venue: CR 12, Ambedkar University Delhi, Kashmere Gate Campus

Organizing Members:

Divya Sharma

Ganesh Gautam

Kavita Rawat

Rahul Kumar

Satyapriya

Vialthiansiam

On 30^th March, the students of Radical Poetry of Protest and Resistance organized “Zameene Gungunati hai”- an interlocution between space and identity, an event attempting to understand this convergence through various art forms and range from contemporary to folk.

Concept Note: The existence of identity converges with space to create certain boundaries through which we limit and identify ourselves. The stories of our being unspools itself in an assorted manner from the origins of the place that it belongs to. A definitive framing of identities along with space provides an understanding of the sociocultural realities practices within the society. Any attempt at narrating the memories of ‘identity-scape’ would successfully contribute to our understanding of the dynamics that both identity and space share with one another.

The event is an attempts to bring together various performances that has questioned the basis of this corporeal understanding that has influenced one another in the formation of various constructs and discrimination within the society. The aim is to critically analyze the politics of the fusion of the two important aspects of knowledge production and its effects on social realities. 

The event started with a slight delay at 2:30 pm , right after the artists, performers and audience arrived and seated themselves, with the slogan recitation by a student of AUD, Shivam. The sloganeering was meant to induce the room and audience with the ambience and spirit of protest poetry. Oppression prevalent in the present time were registered through slogans on Azadi (freedom) from caste, class, patriarchy and so on. The event was conceptualized to be prorated in three parts consisting of a Poetry session, Performances and Interaction with Sumeet Samos and Raja Ram Sanjarwas. For the poetry session, four amateur young poets from varying universities were invited to perform.

Apart from that, a Protest Poetry Exhibition on the event theme was also set up in the event room, celebrating the powerful poems which helped in mobilizing and inspiring masses to protest and resist over centuries. The exhibition received a very warm appreciation from the audience and remained a center of attention throughout the Event.

Performance by Sumeet Samos

Following the opening remarks by the organizers, the first main performer for the day- Sumeet Samos took the stage. Sumeet Samos is an anti caste rapper from JNU who comes from the Southern parts of Odisha and has been active in the Ambedkarite student activism for the last three years. He has performed in Mauritius, Paris and various colleges and universities of India from Azim Premji, AMU, HCU to IIM Indore.

Through his rap songs, he raises his voice against the constructed ideas of caste, class, patriarchy, racism and Brahmanism.

 The first song, a protest anthem called “Ladai Seekh Lei”, inspirited the listeners to combat with the injustice. In the next two rap songs, Sumeet unmasked the crucial role of caste in country like India in deciding “Who have the land, control over resources and over institutions?” Moreover, his songs highlighted the issue of Adivasi and criticized the land policies by the government which abduct their lands in the name of development. Usage of Hindi as a language medium, eliminated the gap between the performer and everybody sitting in audience. In fact, people began singing in chorus after Sumeet which turned the event not less than a concert space. He ended his performance with the recitation of one of his poems which was once more applauded by the listeners.  

Next up in the line was an open interaction with Sumeet where questions were taken up from the audience. From the politics of love to the three phases of Indian Rap history, Sumeet answered about everything. Since, he himself faced caste based discrimination in JNU Campus, most of his songs are inspired from similar incidents. He shared a lot of anecdotes from his own life in order to resolve the puzzlement of Representation by clearing that, they (Dalit Community here) are supposed to lead the struggle, if anyone wants to join them, they can peacefully follow them but only they are going to lead it.

Performace by Raja Ram Sanjarwas and Team 

Followed by the performance of Sumeet was Raja Ram Sanjarwas and team, who began around 3:30 pm after a short break. Raja Ram Sanjarwas and his group have been subverting the classical music form into protest anthems to surface the issue of land and caste for almost thirty years. They call themselves Ambedkarite poets and singers, also performed in political rallies.

The moment Raja Ram ji began singing on the beat of dholak, the whole room joined him to sing along in rhythm. The thirty years of experiences could be seen in the way he immediately swayed the audience. Though the performance was introduced as Ragini but the moment one heard his songs composed on famous Bollywood tones, everyone realized that they were not a Ragini performers.

The first song, “Bhim Baba agar Pher lete Nazar Toh humara Sahara Na Hota Koi”, which proposed that if Dr Ambedkar had turned away his eyes from the sufferings of Dalit then there would have been no one who cared about the community. 

However, out of the Five they sang, all of them talked about the life of Bhimrao Ambedkar and how Babasaheb's struggle is remembered by the Dalit community. The songs implied that because of Ambedkar, the Dalit community is able to reach where it is today.

The atmosphere turned a little controversial when in the last song he mentioned Mayawati and his dream of seeing the “iron lady” as what he called her, the prime minister of this country. Despite that, the audience was able to connect with him, given that the tune of the songs on which he was performing were popular Bollywood songs, made it easier to follow him in chorus.

The interactive session with Raja Ram ji gave an understanding of the function of caste system in the present time. He also discussed the future of Dalit Politics in India and urged the young generation to become the leaders of tomorrow. Overwhelmed by the invitation from AUD, Raja Ram ji shared his gratefulness that people in the university spaces are eager to listen to them despite the fact that they come from a different background and speak in not very acceptable dialect. 

The whole journey from contemporary rap to regional protest songs, the event presented the various faces and forms of protest poetry.

Poetry Session

The final program of the event comprised the poetry performance by four budding poets who had performed at the college and university levels. The session began with Mehul, a Delhi Univesity student who performed a poem in English on the struggle of daily wage workers. Although the poem received an average response, the overall content was impactful.

Next up was Abhinav, a student of MA English, AUD, who performed a short poem titled the name of the event Zameene Gungunati hai. Written as a response to the current regime around the condition of farmers and poor in the country, the poem was well appreciated by the audience.

The Third poet in the row was Muskan, who performed a Ghazal and a long poem in Hindi. Even though the Ghazal gave an aura of love in the beginning but it ended on the tone of Resistance. Her long poem talked about the issues of nation and cartographies and how some texts, poems and arts blur the boundaries. She had also used the event’s name in her poetry. The event ended with the last poetry recitation by Ganesh Gautam, a student of AUD and one of the organizers. Similar to the earlier two poems, his poetry also used the tag line “Zameene Gungunati Hain”, written on the theme of oppression, Dalit, Farmers and towards the end also criticized the administration of the University.

Over a short time span of 15 minutes, the poems won the applause and appreciation of every person sitting in the audience. So and so that despite the technical glitches throughout the event, people stayed till the end and carried with them one of its kind of experience and some basic understanding of the interlocution of space and identity. 

Land and Identity has been a point of struggle that’s interconnected in so many ways. The event was an attempt to understand this discourse in the present day times especially when freedom of speech and expression and expression is threatened. Therefore, such events should be encouraged in the university spaces and even beyond that to confer the different faces of oppression and the varied approaches to resist.